Canadians rule in Puerto Rico

All three Pan Am Games gold medal winners were back in action in the Americas this past weekend and not only did all find gold once again in the Puerto Rico International, but they were also joined by a pair of Canadian men’s doubles winners.

Michelle Li once again put in a double-gold performance and she was also the only one to beat a non-Canadian in the final when she won the women’s singles title by edging out Anne Hald-Jensen of Greece 21-13, 29-27.  Li and Bruce also took the women’s doubles crown, beating compatriots Joycelyn Ko / Grace Gao.  The win should narrow the gap between these Canadians and the top seeds Reid/Grether, who currently stand to nab the Pan Am Olympic spot in the discipline.

Li and Bruce plan to continue continent-hopping, as they followed up their successful Pan Am Games campaign with a trip to the French Open, then came back to the Americas for this title, after which they and several other Canadians are heading west to the Far East for next week’s Hong Kong Open.  Among those Hong Kong-bound are the men’s and mixed doubles titlists, each pair drawing from the Ng family.  Toby and Grace Gao took mixed while Derrick Ng and Adrian Liu won the men’s doubles.

Men’s singles was the only discipline to elude the Canadians.  Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne had disposed of Canada’s top player Stephan Wojcikiewicz in the third round but also prevailed over top seed Michael Lahnsteiner of Austria to take the title on Sunday.

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